• by Joe Mandese  @mp_joemandese, March 2, 2006

ORLANDO -- Rob DeSena, one of the few marketers participating in the panel discussions at the American Association of Advertising Agencies' Media Conference and Trade Show here, is no longer a marketer. DeSena, managing director of Mars Direct at packaged goods giant Masterfoods, is leaving to launch Engagement Marketing Group, a new business that will help develop new methods for measuring advertising and media engagement.

That move is not surprising given that DeSena has been one of the most outspoken and proactive marketers on the subject of engagement. Among other things, he helped launched an ad industry initiative spawned during the Association of National Advertisers Accountability Forum last year, and he is a key member of MI4, the cross-industry task force that was formed to help define the meaning of engagement, and to make recommendations for how to research and apply it. MI4 has developed a working definition for engagement, and is expected to announce a formal committee definition during the Advertising Research Foundation's conference later this month in New York.

Details of DeSena's new enterprise could not be learned at presstime, though DeSena is scheduled to participate in two of the AAAA's panel sessions today, including one about engagement.

DeSena joined Masterfoods USA in February 2002 as director of relationship marketing. In his most recent role, he oversaw direct-to-consumer marketing efforts for all Masterfoods USA brands.